


A Picnic Plot

by Morbane



Category: The Trouble With Kings - Sherwood Smith
Genre: Constructive Criticism Welcome, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 11:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4704794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/pseuds/Morbane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flian wakes up tied to a tree.</p><p>It's not as much of a surprise as you'd think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Picnic Plot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mairelon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mairelon/gifts).



I woke up.

Birdsong, and the fresh smells of leaves and earth, made it clear I was not in the comfortable bed where I had gone to sleep, in the castle of Lathandra.

When I tried to move, I could feel rough bark pricking my back through my clothing. I could feel lines of rope pressing into my chest and stomach, and binding my wrists at my sides. I was kneeling, but I couldn't feel my feet very well. Perhaps my lower legs had gone to sleep.

I opened my eyes, and looked down to see if my ankles were also tied. Yes, they were, and _ouch_ —my neck was terribly sore from the position I'd been leaning in. I wished I could raise a hand to rub at the top of my spine.

However, that seemed to be my greatest source of discomfort. It had also been easier than I'd expected to open my eyes. And the dryness in my mouth was familiar, but not as pronounced as it had been on previous occasions when my sleep had been induced by drugs.

Lastly, on this occasion, I had more welcome company.

Across the clearing from me was a solidly-built, dark-haired man—Jason Szinzar, king of Ralanor Veleth, and my husband. Like me, he was bound to a sturdy pine; unlike me, he was still asleep.

I wondered if it had been chance that I had woken first. Perhaps, instead, I had received a smaller dose of sleepweed—for I knew that that must be what had kept us unaware until now—or perhaps Jason and I had received the same dose, but I had built up an immunity to the drug during the many times I'd been abducted in the past year.

I began to test the tightness of the ropes, keeping an eye on Jason. I reasoned that if the noise of my movements failed to rouse him, I could hope I was being quiet enough to escape the notice of anyone else who happened to be nearby.

Besides, I was sure I looked extremely silly. When I had read stories about people escaping capture, they had used exciting words like "struggle" and "strain". I suspected that an accurate description of my efforts could only use "wriggle" and "squirm".

I saw Jason shift ever so slightly.

Although this was a poor indication of my prowess at stealth, I couldn't help smiling.

Giving up dignity as a lost cause, I continued to squirm. If I could just reach a knot... One of my ankle knots was within reach of my elbow, but I would have to have had the flexibility of a travelling performer to undo it from this position. I could only hope I wasn't drawing the knots tighter...

Jason opened his eyes fully—consternation showing on his face as he realised that I shared his unexpected plight. I gave him a shrug, as best I could, and smiled, to indicate that I was at least uninjured.

I watched with fascination as, far more resourceful than I, he managed to manoeuvre himself into a position that allowed him to extract a knife from his boot heel. I'd never known he kept one there. A trick to remember for the future—except that a lady's slippers were rather harder to hide things in.

It seemed I wouldn't have to find the tail end of the rope I'd been promised would be concealed among my bindings, for emergencies.

In no time at all, Jason had got himself free, and crossed the clearing to me in quick strides.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

"Yes," I answered. "You?"

He nodded quickly.

"I don't think there's anyone else around," I told him in a normal tone. "The bird calls I've heard aren't the kind that say _intruder_ , _warning_."

Having freed me, he helped me to my feet. "Do you know how we got here?"

"I haven't seen anyone," I said. "I don't remember anything after coming to bed last night." That was the truthful part. "Can you imagine who might have done this?" I continued, my expression as serious as I could make it.

"No," he said shortly.

He cast an eye around our surroundings. Pine forest: common to much of Ralanor Veleth, in all cardinal directions from Lathandra. I couldn't tell where we were exactly and from his frown, it seemed Jason couldn't either.

"These trees are climbable," he said. "Can you climb?"

"Yes, I think so," I said. My lower legs were stinging fiercely, but I thought it would pass.

"Best to make ourselves some nest until someone comes back for us," he suggested, "and learn what we can. I don't like our chances for striking out to find a road."

"Flian!"

The call came through the wood.

"Jason!"

The voices were familiar: Markham, my lord's captain, and Jaim, his brother.

Jason sighed in relief. 

"We are delivered," he said, as if to reassure me.

"Not exactly," Markham said, coming into view.

Jason looked up sharply, his eyes narrowing.

"What do you mean?"

Markham swept him a bow.

"We are under orders to detain you, my lord king," he told Jason.

"Whose orders?" Jason demanded.

"Your lady's."

Jason whirled to me. Instinctively, I stepped back. We froze that way: Jason outraged, me wary, the others combining amusement and caution. Behind Markham and Jaim were several of Jason's soldiers, and three of the household staff.

"What is going on?" Jason demanded.

"My lord," I said, carefully, bowing to him, "you have not yet passed all of this festival day's trials."

"Festival day?"

"Indeed," I said, and at this, I smiled, though I was still a little nervous as to how Jason would react. The words I'd rehearsed were better aimed at other listeners than at him. "Today is a day of reversals. Those on high shall be entertained... and entertainment. You may not return to ordinary Velethi business until you have defeated all the trials before you."

Jason stared at me, his expression hard to read.

Then Perla, who worked in the laundry, said, "I have robes for you, my lord, to buckle on over your own." She held out a long coat embellished with gold embroidery. Jason looked down at his own simple, rough shirt and trews, and gave a short, incredulous laugh. He accepted the coat.

I sighed in relief, and accepted an elaborate overdress from Perla. It would hide the worst of the grass stains and crumples on my underdress - and those that showed would fit the mood of the day.

When Jason and I were fully clothed, Markham led our party north-west.

I fell into step beside Raina, one of Lathandra's maids.

"Did the cooks arrive in time?"

"They say they have all they need. There were dramas..." She saw my anxious expression and shook her head firmly. "Tales to relate, but of no matter. All is in readiness."

"The horses?"

"They arrived," Raina confirmed.

"The musicians' dais?"

"It was set up an hour ago."

I nodded, pressing my own lips firmly shut against further questions.

Raina's glance at me was amused.

That was to the good. I had set this day in motion... but it was fitting that I should now follow along with that motion, caught in the current.

(If truth be told, I had arranged my own place in events to keep myself _out_ of the last-minute preparations. I had _had_ to plan for others to take charge!)

I drew near to Jason again. When we came at last upon our festival, I was gratified by the way his eyes widened and his chin lifted.

A few feet above head-height, all the trees that ringed a great field were bedecked with ribbons and ropes hung with bells. I knew that Jason would recognize the location at once as an archery field, part of one of his troops' training camps, but that was no matter: he would see that plenty had been changed. The track that led to the field had been widened, and new gravel poured on its entire length, so that carriages could come from Lathandra, and so they had. A veritable bevy of them were lined up at the road end of the field.

On the far side from our approach, tents and booths offered food and entertainment. A rough but serviceable dais presently boasted two lute players and a flautist, though their audience was small as yet. Immediately in front of them, the last of my gravel had been used to mark out a dance square in the tall grass.

Jason looked, and began to laugh.

I waved to the musicians, and they began to play.

Jason was whisked away, and so was I. We competed at foot-races, ball games, tourneys of combat, games with both sticks and balls, and obscure tests of skill. Against my advice, my harp had been brought to the field, but I took the suggestion this implied, and took my own half-hour on the musicians' dais.

In the late afternoon, I found a quiet moment to listen and watch (the tournaments of skipping, juggling, and courtly insults were nearing their conclusions, and I had been eliminated in all of them) and Jason joined me, sitting down beside me on the grass. I put out a hand to rest on his hip, and as I reached out, I looked up at him. I had no idea what his mood might be.

"You set all this into motion without me knowing," he said neutrally.

"You were busy," I said. It was both an answer and the mildest of reproofs. "I have been telling you you should rest for weeks."

"There was the school we wanted to set up, and the new delegation from Dantherei was set to arrive..."

I waved my hand in a confident way at the delegation from Dantherei, who were among those currently active in the dancing square.

"Why?" Jason asked simply.

There was something about Jason that always drew from me the most honest responses. Once, I had thought I threw truths in his face to spite him, and myself. Now I knew better.

"At first, I wanted to _make_ you stop working so hard," I said. "Then I thought a proper queen should contrive for it to happen, but invisibly, somehow. Then I thought of all last year's plots and contrivances, and I wondered what it took to plan a proper plot. And I wondered who would support me."

"Jaim," Jason said dourly.

"Oh, he was very taken by the idea," I told Jason cheerfully. "That was very encouraging. But don't worry, I stopped talking to him about it once I had the seed of the idea. He only found out it was happening for certain yesterday."

Jaim and Jason had once been dangerously at odds; I didn't want Jason to think I was so naive as to hand Jaim his brother, tied to a tree, isolated from his more reliable supporters.

Jason nodded slowly, conceding my forethought.

"But why did you have yourself tied up?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"It seemed fairer," I confessed. Jason's eyebrows rose. "And they gave me sleepweed, too." 

Jason's eyes widened further.

"It was fairer that way," I said again.

"Do I understand you correctly?" Jason asked. "You arranged a gala, requiring most or all of the castle staff. You convinced those I most trust to kidnap me, and you accomplished both those things without me knowing—"

"—I wasn't sure you didn't know," I said. "I'm still not sure you're not playing along."

"I'm not," he said.

The words _I'm sorry_ were on my tongue, but I didn't say them.

"I wanted to know if I could," I said. Honesty under honesty. "Play at kings' games."

"They're not games," Jason said, but he was looking down, away from my gaze.

Oh, this was not what I had wanted, both of us uncertain, new hurts laid over old.

"Well," I said helplessly.

"Flian," Jason said. "Flian, the only person who thinks you can't do anything is you." His look was so intense I couldn't meet it.

"But I didn't think I had to prove anything to _you_ ," I said. "I don't. It was a lesson for _me_."

I saw understanding dawn. At last, he began to smile. "Then I suppose I needn't employ a taster," he said, "or keep lock-picks in my shoes along with a knife."

"I am sure my next queenly achievement will be a less frivolous affair."

Jason looked around the field. "That might be a pity," he admitted, and got up, pulling me to my feet too. "Shall we enjoy this while it lasts?"

So we danced on the grass with ambassadors and laundry maids until the sun touched the western tree-tops, and our servants gave us permission to go home.

**Author's Note:**

> Jenn_Calaelen, thank you so much for your beta help.


End file.
